Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imprint apparatus and a method of manufacturing an article.
Description of the Related Art
An imprint apparatus which forms a pattern on an imprint material on a substrate by using a mold has attracted attention as one of mass production lithography apparatuses for semiconductor devices and the like. The imprint apparatus includes a dispenser (supply unit) having a plurality of discharge outlets (nozzles) each of which discharges an imprint material to a substrate, and performs supply processing of supplying an imprint material onto the substrate by controlling the discharge of the imprint material from each discharge outlet. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-129802 has proposed a method of switching between a plurality of discharge outlets to be used for the supply of an imprint material in accordance with a period in which no imprint material is discharged from each discharge port, in order to prevent clogging in each discharge outlet after a long period of time during which no imprint material is discharged.
It is possible to set, for each discharge outlet, the maximum number of times that an imprint material can be discharged. In this case, when the cumulative number of times of the discharge of an imprint material from any of the plurality of discharge outlets reaches the maximum number of times, the dispenser can be exchanged. In order to reduce the running cost of the imprint apparatus, it is preferable to control the bias of the cumulative numbers of times at the plurality of discharge outlets and reduce the exchange frequency of dispensers. However, as in the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-129802, only switching between discharge outlets in accordance with a period in which no imprint material is discharged from each discharge outlet may allow the use of even a discharge outlet exhibiting a large cumulative number of times if no imprint material is discharged from it for a long period of time. This makes it impossible to control the bias of the cumulative numbers of times at a plurality of discharge outlets. This, in turn, may lead to an insufficient reduction in the exchange frequency of dispensers.